Figure 5.

General schematic representation of the synthetic lethality principle. Pharmacological inhibition of one gene will not affect healthy cells reliant on two genes but will demonstrate a lethal effect on cancer cells with the second gene already aberrant. Such cells will undergo programmed cell death, apoptosis. In contrast, a mutation in an untreated cancer cell can enable proliferation and tumor growth. The red cross indicates the possible sites of pharmacological intervention, whereas the yellow star denotes gene mutation.